“Diplomat, an honour,” said the representative of the Dar Yi who stood before Leliana.

Leliana had dealt with Warren before. She had long white hair, poise as well as arrogance, around Leliana’s age. It had only been in the past few years that she had dealt with her directly, as usually it was her husband, who had been born Dar Yi. Warren, Leliana was aware, had married into the position she was in. She could see it in the steel within her eyes and the straightness of her back that she held that position tightly in her grasp.

Leliana had to treat her carefully. Someone who fought for their position was even more hardline than someone raised by it. But perhaps she could use that to her advantage. If she did offend her however, it would shut a door in her face. Leliana watched her carefully from behind her veil.

“The Orphans have recently accepted one Arturri who had been cast out from the great Dar Yi Family.”

“Of course they have, they are kind enough to take all those without a House.” There was a kind of smugness to Warren’s tone which irritated Leliana, but she would not let it get the better of her.

“Yes. However, I will say that he has expressed concerns,” Leliana said.

“Is it usual that a disowned man be content?”

Leliana would not let Warren's flippancy get the better of her. “It seems,” the Diplomat continued, “that he believes that the culprit of the murder which he was disowned for is still on the loose.”

Warren suppressed a laugh poorly. A cool smile spread across her lips instead. “Does he now? Diplomat, I know that Arturri. He would say almost anything to stay within our Family, but he is undeserving of our name.” The words were sour. A servant brought Warren some wine, which she spun in her glass.

“So you have no doubts on the Family’s verdict?” Leliana was aware that if she pressed too much then the conversation could turn accusatory, so she attempted this with a more clarifying tone.

It seemed unsuccessful. Warren turned stern, her icy gaze hardening against the topic. “A Diplomat does not usually stray into the affairs internal to a Family, if I am not mistaken. Your duty to us all is to be impartial. To act as an intermediary.”

“Of course,” Leliana tried to take it in her stride. She let none of her emotions out in her voice. She wondered what she would return to tell Arturri. It had been unlikely that the conversation would have been any more fruitful than that anyways, but still it was bound to disappoint him.

Warren pressed further, voice raising, “So then, why do you come to accuse us of mistake?”

“I am accusing you of nothing.” As far as Leliana was concerned, the topic had turned out a failure, but Warren’s aggression now made her think that she was not as sure as she had let on.

“This conversation is concerning the internal workings of the Dar Yi family, and that of an Orphan. It does not concern the Diplomats,” Warren said, finally taking a sip of her wine.

“The Orphans do concern the Diplomats,” Leliana said with more firmness than before. “I would have thought that if your Family was possibly still in danger, a true Dar Yi would not hesitate to do what needed to be done and show appropriate caution.”

Warren turned red at the words. Leliana felt herself hold her breath waiting to see if her bold statement about ‘true Dar Yi’ would yield to her being kicked out of the House. A part of Leliana dared Warren to try it.

They remained still, like cats squaring off on a street corner.

Then Warren straightened herself out and placed down her glass on a small table near the wall. She moved a small hair that had hung in her face. Her calm created more fear than her anger. “I thank the warning of the Orphan who feels that we are threatened,” she said graciously, “And I disregard the same who thinks their lies will change our mind. Will that be all, Diplomat?”

Leliana felt herself join with the shadows in the room as Warren ended the conversation. It was as she had suspected. It was frustrating. She had felt so close to getting her to reconsider Arturri’s seemingly unfair dismissal. However, Leliana could not neglect the possibility that he truly was guilty of the murder. He would not have been the first to try a story like this.

She had to let it go, and Arturri would have to accept his reality as an Orphan. “Yes,” she told Warren calmly, “That will be all.”

Leliana just hoped that his life from then on wouldn’t feel like a punishment, but a new beginning. It would be difficult to break the news. She hoped that he wouldn’t take it too badly or do anything stupid. She didn’t know him well enough to guess, since he’d only just arrived.

“Thank you for your generous visit then, if I may take your leave,” Warren said, then turned and left Leliana where she stood. The wine glass was left behind, hardly touched.

The servants remaining in the room opened the door for Leliana, and she was led out of the large estate. The Dar Yi portraits along the walls seemed to watch her walking through their corridors as the outsider she was.

The Dar Yi had arranged for a carriage to transport Leliana back to the Orphanage. Their telekinetic abilities made the open-topped carriage glide through the underground. Leliana carefully sat in as the door was closed behind her by a servant. She held onto her seat, knuckles turning white. It took off with a start, and she could feel the swaying of the carriage jostle her. Who was to say these enchantments wouldn’t break as soon as they were outside of the Dar Yi grounds? It wasn't her first carriage ride, but it wasn't as charming as they had intended.

Some would have been thrilled by the luxury. It would have been a wonderous experience seeing the overview of the Dar Yi fields. Mushrooms of many varieties poked up thick and tall, rooted vegetables flourished purple and pale in the mud and clay ground. Farmers worked the fields. Dark leaves shot up stiff and rich. Leliana noted the way things were indeed quite tightly compact between lots. But all the same, it was attractive from a distance.

Then the carriage swerved to Leliana’s dismay and zipped through the small cave tunnel out onto the marketplace where the people below would seem the size of fingers on an outstretched hand. She did all she could not to cry out and embarrass herself.

Once she arrived back at the gates of the Orphanage, she felt dizzy, her stomach in a knot.

It seemed that Arturri was expecting her to return with some news that day. He rose from a bench by the mess hall to greet her across the square. She knew it was him because of the way the robes didn't seem to suit him at all. They were always twisted about strangely on his lanky form.

He awkwardly bowed to her. She tried not to get sick on him. She waved him back to the bench, “I must sit down,” she insisted. It was only a way to delay the inevitable, but she did dread what she must say.

He helped her over, the kind lad. “How was your day?” he asked her. She knew well he was asking for more details than that and didn’t pretend otherwise.

“I can’t tell you it went well… The Dar Yi were not convinced by your appeal.”

His shoulders drooped beside her and he removed his veil with fumbling hands. His face was not as she had expected, gloomy and depressed, but rather it was livid. His eyes were watering yes, but he scowled at the ground. She felt a deep shame looking upon it, so much so that she had to avert her eyes.

“I am sorry, Arturri. Know that I did try. But take no offense when I say the Dar Yi… Well, they are nothing if not stubborn.”

“You wouldn’t understand. It’s not stubbornness,” He said, his voice wavering.

She felt uncertain. She could tell him that she understood better than he could. She had been interacting with the Dar Yi for most of her life, and they look different from the outside. She could say that he was not seeing them for who they were, trapped as he was by his own internal perspective of what it was to be Dar Yi. But none of those words would have made any difference to him. Inevitably, he would know best, because he was of them. Even if they now denied it.

So she tried something else. Maybe there was a chance he could be of two natures. We are nothing if not multitudes. “If there is anything more I can do for you, know that I would. We Orphans must look after one another. Know that we too are a community, and you are part of that now.”

“You can go back,” he said, gritting his teeth and digging his hands into the black cloth on his abdomen. “Or take me back, and I’ll say it myself. Don’t stop until they listen.”

His frustration was palpable. Leliana sat there and took it in to herself and let it rest there. “Give it time. Perhaps they just need to sleep on the subject. It’s not impossible for them to do internal research themselves. If there really is another murderer then-“

“If? You don’t really believe I did it...?” He turned to face her with hurt.

He had been hurt by those he tried to trust too much, only in the last few days. Any further impact could break him. She had fumbled. “No- I didn’t mean that-“

But it was too late, and he was hardening to her by the moment. He stood up, his hands falling back to his sides. “I’m going to go and do my duties for the day, matron. I thank you for your kind assistance in speaking on my behalf. May I be excused?”

She opened her mouth instinctively to refuse the dismissal and correct herself, but time only moves forwards. She had spoken without thinking, and Arturri must pay the price for her cold-hearted mistake. “Arturri? Please. Know that I am on your side.”

He said nothing.

She pursed her lips, “Of course you may go.” And he did.

In the quiet of the courtyard she could distantly hear the bustle of the market below the Church. Life continued, despite the heartbreak of a boy who lost everything. This was a day at the Orphanage, after all. She brought herself to a stand and went up to her office to continue her paperwork.

The stairs up were long and winding, and when the reached the landing with her office, she saw that another of her children was awaiting her.

Daress had taken a seat by one of the windows, but instead of looking out of it she was focused on the papers within her hands, so much that she hardly looked up when Leliana ascended.

“Can I help you?” Leliana asked, jolting the girl to her senses.

Daress’ veil was held on her lap beneath her papers. There was something in Daress’ face that Leliana didn’t trust the look of. She had golden hair and dark eyes, with thin eyebrows and a small mouth. Daress always had an uneasy expression that read to Leliana as devious. Although Daress often claimed her innocence of her accusation, it was a case where Leliana was less certain even when she came in young. Daress had denied causing the fire at first, but then later admitted to it, but denied intent. Who was to say where the line was really drawn between truth and fiction?

She was sad to say that perhaps her upsetting Arturri that day was due to Daress’ damage to her sense of trust in incoming Orphans. Perhaps a part of Leliana could never forgive her for that.

But now on the landing, something else was clearly on Daress’ mind and distracted her in a way that regular book-brain wouldn’t. Leliana found herself tense with the girl around. “Well?” she prompted, as Daress was being more hesitant than usual.

Daress stood up from her seat, “I have come with applications. Myself and Nadira, we have both completed our applications for Diplomacy, ma’am.” Her words were stiff, far from the typical airy tone from the girl.

She had expected an application from Nadira since their talk, but she hadn’t really considered Daress for the position. She didn’t know if she would like to work alongside her. More bad news to deliver? She wouldn’t have to deliver the message today, she would wait a few and consider the content of the application into the process. Maybe Daress could change her mind, after all. More shocking things had happened.

“And why are you delivering Nadira’s application?”

“She’s busy with… other pressing matters.”

Leliana didn’t buy that story for a moment. “Right,” She said, unlocking her office door. “Come in and take a seat.”

“Thank you,” Daress said. Leliana allowed her inside first, before following in and taking her place opposite.

“Can I ask, Daress, why you want to become a Diplomat?” She tried to seem ambivalent rather than dismissive. She didn’t want two of her children to leave her presence upset in one day after all.

“I thought that I might be good at it, and… Well, it would be a way to apply myself.”

Perhaps Leliana could twist her towards a more desirable outcome. “And why not look into the Librarianship? I would have thought that to suit you.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want that. I mean, I love to explore the library, but I wouldn’t want to necessarily manage it. I feel all that organization and cataloging might take the adventure out of it.”

Leliana resisted trying to convince her of that as it was now. It would be too obvious that she was throwing her off Diplomacy. “What qualities would you say would make you a good Diplomat?”

“Well, I’m a good listener. And I believe I know the Families lore well to an extent, so that I could see where they’re coming from…”

“You believe you could be impartial?” Leliana asked. She felt guilty knowing that she had already made up her mind to deny her application before she had even read it. She tried to throw her a bone, but by the time she had spoken she was already retracting it.

“I do, ma’am. I don’t hold any family worse than any other,” Daress said carefully - then Leliana noticed she looked a little smug from her own words. If she ever was an Orphan, it seemed the veil would certainly be useful if she always reacted so self-assured.

“I see. Well, I’ll have to have a look at the applications myself in due time.” She placed them in a fresh folder from a drawer at her desk and marked them. “Thank you for delivering them.”

Daress hesitated in her chair. Leliana wished she could just be alone. “Anything else, Daress?” She wondered.

“I just wondered, ma’am… between ourselves… Do you think I have a shot at it?”

Leliana rubbed her forehead. The girl had hope. She had options here. She could either crush the dreams swiftly or hold her onto the possibility for a few days. A part of her wanted to just decide here and now. But she knew rightly that she should at least go through the application.

“I’ll say this for you Daress. You have always done your duties well. I will look at the application. But know that I am uncertain if your disposition, a daydreamer as you are, would be what we are looking for in a Diplomat. I’ll have to think on this. You understand, if you are denied, it would be in your best interest, Daress?”

“Well… I… If you… I…” Daress faded off into silence.

“Now, child, I hope you understand there are so many opportunities for you.”

Daress said nothing. Leliana’s heart sank.

“I haven’t read it yet, you know. Don’t paint my words before they are spoken,” she told her.

Daress nodded, “Of course, Ma’am. I do look forward to getting a response. Please, um, I can improve, now that I’m aware of my… disposition, becoming a problem. I’m able to grow, you know.”

“I’m glad to hear it, Daress,” Leliana was keen to change the subject, “Are you doing well, asides from the applications?”

“Oh, yes. Sleep hasn’t been great, but doing alright!”

“Well, do take care of yourself.”

Daress thanked Leliana and gathered herself to leave.

Leliana let out a sigh after the door closed. That girl could be quite sweet, which made her feel awful to be so predisposed. But she reminded herself that it was not unfounded.

Besides, being a Diplomat was such a position of power, if it fell into the wrong hands, it could lead the underground entirely astray, possibly into collapse. She would have to consider these applications very carefully, and not take too long to give results. She had to try to be fair in this.

But for that moment, she just had to make herself a cup of tea. It had been a long day.